We always hear this statement in the audio community:
“It’s not the gear, it’s the ears”.
I have to admit that this would always frustrate me when I’d hear people say this when I was starting out.
I SIMPLY DID NOT BELIEVE IT.
As a matter of fact, I used to believe that most of the reason why pro mixes sounded so good was due to the great gear they recorded and mixed with.
Gear I just didn’t have..
It was much easier to believe this than to believe I simply didn’t have a clear roadmap to follow when I sat down to mix.
Because I lacked the knowledge I needed, achieving pro-level metal mixes was a BITCH for me.
I struggled for eons.
To be honest, there were multiple points in time where I was close to packing it all in and selling off all my gear for good.
The idea behind the statement:
“It’s not the gear, it’s the ears”
..is that real results, supposedly, come from the engineer’s approach and not the gear itself.
But, Is this really true?
Well, I can say that this is 100% TRUE 100% OF THE TIME.
But that begs the burning question:
Why do we rarely hear home studio recordists pumping out kick ass mixes?
It seems like such a rare occurrence, that most people don’t even believe it to be possible.
(*spoiler alert* It IS possible..proof is in this video)
What are so many of us home studio folk missing?
In this video, I demonstrate what a song that was recorded 100% on budget gear and mixed entirely within Reaper with STOCK PLUGINS can sound like.
It’s amazing how much you can accomplish with very little when you have a crystal clear plan to follow when mixing.
